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Socialist IMF Head Calls for Global Currency

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a member of France’s Socialist Party. As one of the 187 member countries, U.S. taxpayers pay roughly 17 percent of the IMF’s total funding. Dominique Strauss-Kahn even unsuccessfully ran for president of France on the Socialist ticket in 2007. Rumors have been circulating that the socialist may be challenging current French President Nicholas Sarkozy in 2012.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has made his political views clear. In April 2010, the IMF released a report called the “Reserve Accumulation and International Monetary Stability.” The report was full of extensive IMF jargon. However, it’s worth a read to discover what the IMF is scheming. The report reads:

A more ambitious reform option would be to build on the previous ideas and develop, over time, a global currency. Called, for example, bancor in honor of Keynes, such a currency could be used as a medium of exchange—an ’outside money’ in contrast to the SDR which remains an ‘inside money’.

The international bureaucracy has proposed a global currency to honor the father of Keynesian economics- John Maynard Keynes. As an influential economist of the 21st century, Keynes was the antithesis of free markets and limited government. He believed that massive government intervention in the marketplace would somehow lead to prosperity. In 1940, John Maynard Keynes first developed the idea of a supranational currency, called the bancor, to be the world's key currency. When asked about the long-term effects of his economic policies, Keynes famously replied “in the long run we are all dead.”

A global currency would grant even more power to the international bureaucracy while failing to stabilize the global financial system. The IMF fully intends to push for a dollar alternative. Just last week, the IMF released another report praising the idea. In a recent speech, Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn said there is “a sense that money sometimes flows around the globe in too-volatile a fashion and that countries need a more stable, more predictable external environment in order to prosper.”

One option is for bancor to be adopted by fiat as a common currency (like the euro was), an approach that would result immediately in widespread use and eliminate exchange rate volatility among adopters (comparable, for instance, to Cooper 1984, 2006 and the Economist, 1988). A somewhat less ambitious (and more realistic) option would be for bancor to circulate alongside national currencies, though it would need to be adopted by fiat by at least some (not necessarily systemic) countries in order for an exchange market to develop.

Who would print and administer the “bancor?” A global bank modeled after the Federal Reserve. The report continues:

A global currency, bancor, issued by a global central bank (see Supplement 1, section V) would be designed as a stable store of value that is not tied exclusively to the conditions of any particular economy. As trade and finance continue to grow rapidly and global integration increases, the importance of this broader perspective is expected to continue growing… The global central bank could serve as a lender of last resort, providing needed systemic liquidity in the event of adverse shocks and more automatically than at present. Such liquidity was provided in the most recent crisis mainly by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which however may not always provide such liquidity.

It sounds like a conspiracy theory. But I urge you to check out the report for yourself on the IMF's website. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a threat to America’s sovereignty. As Dominique Strauss-Kahn said about the European Union, “the centre must seize the initiative in all areas key to reaching the common destiny of the union, especially in financial, economic and social policy. Countries must be willing to cede more authority to the centre.” A global currency and bank would be a huge step towards a global government.

As one of our over 6 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators and ask that they vote NO on the Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act, S. 2124. This foreign aid bill for Ukraine contains an unnecessary and expensive new U.S. commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

President Obama is calling on the U.S. to increase funds for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the current situation in Ukraine. Obama has been pushing Congress to pass the 2010 IMF quota reform package for several years with no success. It’s an expensive package and most House Republicans are no fans of the IMF. Now with the crisis in Ukraine, Obama sees a perfect political opportunity to pressure Congress into voting for more IMF funding.

After receiving a $145 billion bailout in May 2010, Greece is now seeking a second larger bailout from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Here we go again. Of course, throwing even more money at the European welfare state won’t solve its problems. The Greek government created their own problems by rapidly expanding the welfare state over the past couple decades. A second U.S. taxpayer-financed bailout of Greece will only make the debt situation worse in the long-run.

Dear FreedomWorks member,
As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senator and ask him or her to cosponsor S. 1975, the “No More IMF Bailouts Act.” Introduced by Jim DeMint (R-SC), the bill would stop the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from using U.S. taxpayer dollars to bailout Eurozone nations like Greece and Italy. It would rescind a $108 billion line of credit to U.S. funds given to the IMF in 2009, force Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to veto future IMF bailouts, and stop a proposed doubling of U.S. dues to the IMF.

Dear FreedomWorks member,
As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor H.R. 2313, a bill to repeal the authority to provide certain loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the increase in the United States quota in that Fund, and certain other authorities, and to rescind related appropriations. Introduced by Rep. McMorris (R-WA), the bill would rescind the additional funding for the IMF, requested by the Obama administration in 2009. H.R. 2313 would save $108 billion by repealing the $8 billion increased United States quota and the $100 billion line of credit to the IMF.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a fundamentally flawed institution that currently serves as an international bailout fund. The global bureaucracy has spent decades bailing out reckless foreign countries and banks, of which most recently are Greece, Ireland and Portugal. But now reports are circulating that the IMF needs a bailout of their own.

On this day 40 years ago, former President Richard Nixon suspended the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold. The decision, which radically changed the global monetary system, still holds enormous ramifications for every single American today. The money in our pockets would be worth more if Nixon hadn’t cut the link between U.S. dollars and gold.

It’s former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde first week as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is replacing the former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) who recently resigned after being arrested in New York City for an alleged rape. Shortly after DSK was formally indicted, the IMF began its month-long politicized selection process behind closed doors. In choosing Christine Lagarde to fill the vacant leadership spot, the IMF is merely replacing one French socialist with another.

Over the past three years, President Obama has spent billions of dollars bailing out big banks, insurance giants and auto companies. These massive programs have not only cost American taxpayers dearly, but have sent the message that in the future poorly-run companies will be rescued from their failures. But that’s only the beginning—now Obama wants to bailout failing countries. Using the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Obama plans to put American taxpayers on the hook for a second 145 billion dollar rescue package for Greece.